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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693061">Got That Stupid Kinda Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/typicalaveragefangirl/pseuds/typicalaveragefangirl'>typicalaveragefangirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Extraordinary Relationships [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Kissing, Drinking Games, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Shut Up Kiss, Spin the Bottle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:41:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/typicalaveragefangirl/pseuds/typicalaveragefangirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Tobin &amp; Leif kissed and 1 time Tobin and Leif  k i s s e d. </p>
<p>2 of 6 chapters will be another POV from the other work in this series, Tequila &amp; Team Bonding, but both works can stand alone. </p>
<p>Title from DNCE song "Lose My Cool". Highly recommend their People to People EP as background for this work.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tobin Batra &amp; Leif Donnelly, Tobin Batra/Leif Donnelly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Extraordinary Relationships [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785253</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Accident.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>One. <em>The Accident</em>. </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It shouldn’t have startled him. After knowing him for the better part of two decades, there was nothing about Leif Donnelly that should have startled Tobin Batra. But when Tobin walked into their apartment to a shirtless Leif doing crunches on a yoga mat in the living room, he nearly dropped the grocery bags in his hands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not that Tobin hadn’t seen shirtless Leif. Or even shirtless Leif working out. He’d seen it plenty of times over the years. But something about </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> shirtless Leif had caught him off guard. Maybe it was the sweat glistening on his temples and upper back; it had alway made Tobin furious how Leif never seemed to sweat. Maybe it was the angle he was laying—it showed each of his abdominal muscles so clearly, the bottom most of which descended lower than Tobin’s eyes could see.  Maybe it was the DNCE song playing in the background that made Tobin lose his cool. Hell if he knew. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin hadn’t said anything, but Leif must’ve felt eyes on him, because he sat completely up and glanced toward the door. “Hey, man! I was wondering what got you out of here so early this morning,” Leif said. Hearing Leif’s voice broke Tobin out of his trance; he walked further into the apartment, kicking the door closed behind him and headed towards the kitchen. “I woke up hella craving Gran’s nankhati so I ran down to the corner store to get the ingredients we didn’t have,” Tobin said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif followed him to the kitchen, helping gather the remaining ingredients from their proper places in the cupboards (Leif, afterall, was the one who had organized everything). Tobin didn’t spend much time in the kitchen, but when he did the end results were always magical. Leif lifted himself up onto the island counter after he grabbed a glass of water and watched as Tobin started sifting the dry ingredients together. His heart sank a little bit, seeing this side of Tobin—the one who knew his grandmother’s cookie recipe by heart and got it </span>
  <em>
    <span>just right</span>
  </em>
  <span> every time as to not disappoint her. He wished that Tobin would show this side of himself more often, to more people. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, I should go finish my workout,” Leif said, clearing his head and jumping off the counter, crossing to the table to grab the Camelbak that Tobin knew he took on his long bike rides. “We still on to watch the new episode of Critical Role this afternoon?” Leif asked. Tobin glanced up from the mixer. “Dude, duuuuh,” he said. “Why do you think I’m making these dope ass cookies?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A smile spread across Leif’s face; it was brighter than the smiles he gave outside of their apartment, when his guard was up. It made Tobin smile, too. “I’ll pick up some beer on my way home. Any preferences?” Leif asked. “Whatever’s good.” Leif started to pass by Tobin on his way toward the door and without thinking about it he leaned over and gave Tobin a quick kiss as he said “love you, bye!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They both froze. “Bro, not to alarm you, but we just kissed,” Tobin said after a moment of them staring at each other in silence. “We… just. Kissed?” Leif repeated, tasting the words as if he wasn’t the one who had initiated it, as if he was trying to decide if it was a factual statement. “You know what,” Tobin said, “Let’s just…” “Yep! we can just leave that hang out there,” Leif said as he crossed to the door—pausing only slightly to grab his bike helmet before heading out the door without another word. Tobin returned to mixing his cookie dough and tried not to think about how Leif’s lips had felt against his. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Spin the Bottle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tobin &amp; Leif play spin the bottle at a party at Danny Michael Davis' beach house.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <strong>Two. Spin the Bottle. </strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re actually doing this?” Zoey groaned as Tobin spun the bottle on the floor of the living room in Danny Michael Davis’ Santa Cruz beach house. “Oh we’re doing, ZoZo,” Tobin said, “If two people don’t want to kiss, they both do a shot!” The bottle slowed, coming to a stop while pointing directly at Leif. Fuck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not that Tobin was opposed to kissing another man; in fact, he’d found he quite enjoyed kissing other men on occasion. And he would do almost anything to win a game. It was kissing </span>
  <em>
    <span>this particular man</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Again. Because the last time Tobin had kissed Leif—a passing, accidental peck nearly two years ago—it had taken him at least six months to stop thinking about the kiss while he was awake. And double that while he was dreaming. He didn’t know if he’d be able to kiss Leif again without combusting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sooooo, you gonna take that shot now, Tobes?” Kane, one of his fellow brogrammers, asked. He glanced over at Leif who was giving him the softest smile Tobin had ever seen. All of the shouting from his coworkers faded away at the sight of the smile. Before anybody could suggest the shots again, Tobin got up and walked to where Leif was sitting criss cross applesauce.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin reached each of his hands to Leif’s cheeks and pressed his lips to his roommate’s. Leif’s lips were softer than Tobin's and he had to force himself to pull away from them. Maybe he should start using that beeswax chapstick that Leif was always suggesting, always leaving on Tobin’s side of the bathroom sink. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are they together?” Tobin heard Autumn ask Max while he was looking into Leif’s deep blue eyes. He swore he saw a flicker of hope in them when Leif heard the words, too. “We’re not,” Tobin said, turning toward Autumn and hoping the rest of his coworkers couldn’t tell just how much those words hurt to say, “Just confident enough in our friendship not to lose a game.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hoped it was just in his head that his voice had caught on the word friendship. The sly smirk on Leif’s face either meant that he’d noticed the voice catching and was curious about it </span>
  <em>
    <span>or</span>
  </em>
  <span> that the word friendship had bothered him just as much and he was trying to cover it up. Tobin wasn’t quite sure which thought terrified him more. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He settled back into his spot next to Leif after passing Autumn the bottle, hoping and praying that somebody else would spin him. Maybe somebody else’s lips on his would erase the feeling of Leif’s that was lingering. At the </span>
  <em>
    <span>very least</span>
  </em>
  <span> it would erase the taste of vodka from the moscow mules Leif had been drinking all night. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin had no such luck. After just a couple more spins, Joan shut Spin the Bottle down and then they started a beer pong tournament, which, of course, he and Leif absolutely destroyed at. Because they were </span>
  <em>
    <span>clearly</span>
  </em>
  <span> the best team there. Tobin and Leif sunk ping pong ball after ping pong ball into the red solo cups, and Tobin tried not to overthink it every time they high-fived after a nice shot or every drunk comment from their coworkers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As the night came to an end, Tobin and Leif stumbled into the room they were sharing; before the alcohol, sharing a single room with a single queen size bed hadn’t seemed like a bad idea. But now, a little too drunk and a little too horny, Tobin saw the bed and froze. Leif, apparently, didn’t have a second thought because he pulled his button up Hawaiian shirt off and collapsed onto the bed. Tobin changed into a pair of athletic shorts and laid down next to Leif, thinking about his best friend’s lips as he fell asleep next to him. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Spooning Szn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tobin and Leif's day starts and ends with spooning.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <strong>Three. Spooning SZN. </strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Tobin woke up the morning after playing spin the bottle, he was the little spoon to Leif’s big one. Leif’s arm was draped around Tobin’s midsection holding them tightly together; it was heavier than Tobin would’ve guessed. He stiffened as he realized what was happening. He knew he should just get up and get ready for the day, but couldn’t quite force himself out of the warm cocoon of Leif’s arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin realized that if he got up, he was sure to wake Leif up. And it would be rude to wake Leif up so early after a long night of drinking. So, Tobin decided, the only kind action was to stay exactly where he was and wait for Leif to wake up on his own. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he felt more at peace right now in this moment than he had in months. It was all just him being a good friend to Leif. Obviously. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just a few minutes later, though, Leif woke up. Tobin kept his eyes shut as Leif stretched in bed next to him and then rolled out of bed and out of the room. He laid flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling, and sighed. Fuck. “Get it together, Tobin,” he whispered to himself. He hoped saying the words out loud would make it happen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Tobin did, indeed, get it together. He got up, made breakfast (and a batch of his patent-pending super secret hangover cure) for all of his coworkers, and fell into an easy groove of another day of partying. He played—and won—pool volleyball and was proud the he only caught himself staring at shirtless Leif two times all afternoon. He could do this. He could do the friends thing. He was good at the friends thing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Later that night, Tobin and Leif were sitting around the campfire with some of their coworkers and friends, telling Mo about when Tobin had hacked into the CIA. Tobin didn’t mind telling the story, especially because he and Leif had perfected their dual storytelling over the years while using it as a pickup strategy at bars. But he also wasn’t about to do it without a drink in his hand, so when he drained the last gulp of his beer, he got up and headed toward the house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anybody need anything?” he asked. “I’ll come with,” Leif said, jumping up and following, “I want to see if Danny has any cognac.” They fell into step with each other. When they got to the kitchen, Leif browsed the shelves of liquor and Tobin opened another bottle of champagne to make a mimosa—which he wholeheartedly thought should be considered an all day drink instead of just a brunch thing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, funny story,” Leif said as they were both fixing their drinks. “Hit me,” Tobin said, taking a drink of champagne out of the bottle and then leaving it half empty on the counter. Somebody would finish it. “When I woke up this morning,” Leif started, “we were totally spooning.” Tobin froze for a split second and then reminded himself he was focusing on friendship. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No way dude,” Tobin said with a laugh, “nothing wrong with a couple of bros getting that physical touch love language in early in the morning!” Both of their laughs faded and they looked at each other from across the room. “So, I guess we should head back to the bonfire,” Tobin said finally. “Or, hear me out,” Leif said with a shrug, “we could go, uh, spoon more. Since we both need the physical touch or whatever.” “Uh, yeah,” Tobin nodded, “sure, bro.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They went to their room and both laid down on bed. “So do you want to be the, uh, big spoon or little one?” Leif asked with a blush crossing his face. “You probably never get to be the little spoon being so tall,” Tobin said, teasing in response. Leif chuckled. “No, not really,” he said, turning and folding his body into itself to be the little spoon with a soft smile. He looked back at Tobin after a minute; their faces were just inches apart and then Leif’s lips crashed into Tobin’s. Maybe Tobin couldn’t do this just friends thing after all. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Plus One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tobin is Leif's plus one at his brother's wedding.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <strong>Four. Plus One. </strong>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck.” Tobin heard Leif saying as he walked into their apartment after work one night, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” And then he heard a loud crash and he was running toward Leif’s room. “Bro, are you okay?” he asked as he skidded to a stop. Leif was crouching down next to the wall where a shattered teacup sat, picking up the pieces. </span>
  <span></span><br/>
<span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Fuck,” he repeated, a little more dejected, dropping one of the shards of glass he’d just picked up as blood trickled down the palm of his hand. “Leif! What the hell man!” Tobin turned around, running back toward the kitchen to grab a roll of paper towels. He threw them at Leif, going to the bathroom next to grab hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic cream, and band aids. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Tobin got back into Leif’s room, he pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt and started cleaning up his friend’s hand. Leif must’ve been really upset, because he let Tobin do so without a word. Once Tobin had stopped the bleeding and covered the clean wounds, he looked directly into Leif’s eyes for the first time. “You wanna tell me what happened?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif sighed, glancing down and then back up into Tobin’s dark brown eyes. “Atticus broke up with me,” he said, “over text. The day before we were supposed to leave to go to my brother’s wedding.” Tobin hoped he was able to morph the relief that crossed his face into a look of sympathy. Ever since their weekend away at Danny Michael Davis’ beach house, Tobin had been pining for his best friend. Hard. “Bro… I’m sorry.” “It’s fine,” Leif admitted, “really, I had been thinking about breaking up with him too. It’s just… a pain. Because my family is expecting me to show up with a boyfriend tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin was quiet for a minute. “Did they know you were dating Atticus?” he asked. “Yeah, I RSVP'd with a plus one,” Leif responded. “No,” Tobin said, “I mean… are they expecting you to show up with him specifically or are they expecting you to show up with a boyfriend?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It had taken Tobin a surprisingly short amount of time to convince Leif of his ‘I can just be your fake boyfriend for the weekend’ plan. Sure, at first he’d argued that his parents would be confused since they’ve known Tobin for years. (That was easy: they had realized they were in love after playing spin the bottle. That was half true, anyway.) And sure, Leif had argued that people would be able to tell it was a fake relationship. (That one was pretty easy, too. At least for Tobin—he knew how to act in love with Leif. Hell, there was less acting involved in that than a normal day for Tobin.) </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So that’s how Tobin had found himself in Leif’s childhood bedroom two days later, trying to tie the stupid bow tie he had packed. He was getting frustrated; he didn’t spend a lot of time in ties, and even less in bow ties, and he couldn’t get it right. He needed to get it just right. He was more nervous than he’d expected; on all counts, everything had been going great. Nobody had even seemed that surprised when Leif had said Tobin was the boyfriend he’d told them about. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif came into the room after doing his hair, and saw Tobin’s frustration. “Let me,” Leif said, crossing the room and lifting his hands to Tobin’s neck. A few moments later, it was tied. Perfectly. Leif patted Tobin’s collar bone as he finished, “There. You look great, Tobes,” he said quietly. Tobin let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding and a quick thank you. “No, thank you,” Leif said, “really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>thank you</span>
  </em>
  <span>. For coming with me.” Tobin and Leif stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, and then Tobin closed his eyes, leaned in, and kissed Leif. It wasn’t the only kiss they shared that night. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Shut You Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Angsty Boys™ share a heated moment.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Five. </b>
  <b>
    <em>Shut You Up</em>
  </b>
  <b>.</b>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin had given up hope of anything beyond friendship happening with Leif. After Tobin had spent the night of Leif’s brother’s wedding falling even more in love with Leif and he didn’t seem to reciprocate any of the feelings in the weeks following, Tobin decided he had to make a change. He couldn’t sit around their apartment hoping Leif would accidentally kiss him as he walked out the door anymore. Or at least couldn't do that exclusively. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Tobin did the only logical thing Tobin could do: he fucked anything and everything that consented. He started going to bars and clubs nightly after work and would pick up any woman, man, or non-binary person who showed any interest—he wasn’t picky. He wanted to be with Leif, but Leif didn’t seem to want to be with him. So Tobin made it his personal goal to find anybody else who did. He knew it wasn’t the Tobin 2.0 thing to do, but what was really the point of being new and improved if it wasn’t with his best friend by his side, anyway? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One night, Tobin hooked up with a woman named Ashley at his favorite bar, and when he invited her to his apartment for round two, she’d gladly agreed; when they walked into the apartment, Leif was sitting in the living room with two opened beers and takeout. Tobin felt a pang of guilt; they were supposed to have their weekly roommate dinner tonight, but he’d forgotten. “Where have you been? Everything good?” Leif asked before he noticed that Tobin wasn’t alone. “Uh, out. Ashley, this is my roommate, Leif,” Tobin said. “Hi! Nice to meet you,” Ashley said with a smile. “Likewise,” Leif responded, clearly not meaning it. “I thought we had a brodate tonight.” “Sorry, man,” Tobin said, “just lost track of time.” He knew it was a bad excuse. He didn't particularly care. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Leif did. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>apparently</span>
  </em>
  <span> don’t have the time to take out the trash or clean the sink after you shave or get takeout anymore, so I guess I’m just curious why you have time for Ms. Allison over here,” Leif said, sounding disgusted. “It’s Ashley,” Tobin said shortly. “Excuse my mistake,” Leif responded, “it’s a little hard to keep up lately.” Ashley coughed and then muttered, “I, uh, I think I’m going to let you guys talk this through on your own” as she headed to the door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin didn’t try to stop her. At this point round two wouldn’t be fun anyway; he knew Leif would be occupying his mind for the rest of the night. As soon as Ashley was gone, Tobin gave Leif a death glare he thought he had retired months ago when he started getting along with Zoey at work. “What the </span>
  <em>
    <span>hell</span>
  </em>
  <span>, bro?” he said, starting to pace back and forth in the living room. With each step he got angrier and so did his words. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck was that? She was hot as hell. And, between you and me, super fucking dirty while we were fucking in the bathroom stall at the bar, so she probably would’ve been even more of a firecracker in bed,” Tobin said. “You’re supposed to be my wingman! And you haven’t been lately, which whatever. I get along fine without you, clearly. But it’s totally not cool to kill my vibe in our apartment, especially when-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif stormed across the room to where Tobin was pacing; he pulled on his best friend’s hand to bring him to a stop, and then reached forward and pressed his lips firmly against Tobin’s. After a minute, they both pulled away—breathing heavily. “What was that?” Tobin asked quietly. “Well you wouldn’t stop going on and on,” Leif said shrugging, turning on his heel, and walking toward his room, “I had to shut you up somehow.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Plus 1. You Idiot.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Tobin and Leif kiss. For reals.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>
    <b>Plus One. </b>
    <b>
      <em>You Idiot</em>
    </b>
    <b>. </b>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I had to shut you up somehow,” Leif said as he turned on his heel and walked toward his room; Tobin sunk into the couch. Tobin was angry with Leif—but not because he had caused Ashley to leave. He was angry because he knew Leif was right. Tobin had been a bad roommate, a bad friend over the past several weeks. Tobin knew that Leif didn’t owe him a relationship. But that didn’t mean pushing down his feelings was easy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tobin’s eyes drifted to the Thai food that Leif had waiting for them. He grabbed a fork and took a few bites before throwing the fork down on the coffee table. He knew he was in deep shit when he couldn’t even eat. “Fuuuuck,” he whispered, rubbing his hands over his face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif was always the one to keep the shared spaces of the apartment clean, but Tobin had quit doing the few chores that he normally would do. Leif was always the one to plan their weekly roommate hangs, but normally Tobin would be the one to pick up the food or beer. Leif was the one. Tobin’s one. And he knew he had let him down. That hurt worse than the not having him did. </span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Leif paced back and forth in his room for what had to be literal hours. He was so incredibly angry at Tobin, he couldn’t even put it into words. Eventually, he grabbed his computer, logging into his vlog and pushed the record button. Usually recording a video helped him think straight, but when he stared into the camera he couldn’t find the words. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He blinked a few times, pretending he didn’t see the tears that were building up in his eyes, and then started talking. “Tobin… He’s driving me crazy,” Leif said. After a few seconds and a few deep breaths, he continued. “He has been so </span>
  <em>
    <span>careless</span>
  </em>
  <span> lately. I mean, I could ignore it when he started working late and couldn’t make our brodates, but the fact that he’s-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Leif stopped talking as he realized he was about to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>the fact that he’s dating someone else</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Leif had been in love with Tobin. For a long time. He knew he should have known earlier; for god’s sake, he’d taken every opportunity possible to kiss his “friend” over the past year. And suddenly, he knew he had to do it again. For real. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ran out of his bedroom, down the short hall to Tobin’s and threw the door open. But his room was empty. He turned and went to the living room where he found his roommate sitting on the couch, staring right at him. “You should have told me you weren’t going to be home in time for dinner,” Leif said. He expected Tobin to argue—that was all they seemed to do lately—but instead he just quietly said “I know. I’m sorry.” </span>
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  <span>“Because I would have met you at the bar, or brought you dinner to the office instead or-” “Why are you being so nice to me Leif?” Tobin asked, interrupting, “I’ve been nothing but a jerk the last few weeks.” Leif laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Because I’m in love with you, you idiot,” Leif said, “I can’t stay mad at you. I can’t do anything but think about putting my lips on yours.” Tobin stood, crossing to Leif and leaned in close to his ear. “Then do something about it,” he said. And do something Leif did. Leif’s lips grabbed Tobin’s with fervor, and then he did much, much more. </span>
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